Something Special
by midnightdisaster95
Summary: There's a slow burning something-special going on between Nick and Jess. NickXJess, mentions of CeceXSchmidt.  Future chapters may be coming!
1. Chapter 1

**Something Special**

Nick and Jess have something special.

Its never said outright, but its definitely there.

Jess is always the first up in the morning, and though Nick doesn't need to be, he gets up anyway to accompany Jess in daily blueberry pancakes. And once she leaves for school, he goes back to bed.

Maybe its because they have a more intimate knowledge of each other- Jess has seen Nick naked after all, and vice versa- but its friendly, platonic, and just bordering on something _more_.

Schmidt and Winston don't question it, but even they know Jess and Nick is quite different from Jess and Schmidt, and Jess and Winston. There's a palpable difference in the friendship dynamic, but its so inconspicuous and innocent it doesn't seem quite worth commenting on.

Only Cece has her eye on the two of them. Always watching, waiting, wondering.

'What do you think of Nick and Jess?' she asks Schmidt lazily, as they lie in bed together one night.

'Nick and Jess? As in, together?' Schmidt asks stupidly.

'What else?' Cece deadpans.

There's a thoughtful silence.

'Nick would need to summon up some balls,' he says finally.

Cece toys around with Schmidt's fingers. It's a uncharacteristically affectionate habit she's developed- but Schmidt doesn't seem to mind much.

'I think, if they did- that'd be it.'

Schmidt glances up at Cece questioningly.

'It'd be for the long term,' she clarifies.

There's another long silence.

'And I still haven't seen his penis,' mutters Schmidt.

Cece groans and rolls over.

Why does she sleep with him again?

When Jess goes out on a date, she's always happy to come back to the loft afterwards.

The night's events don't seem complete without Schmidt's unwanted sexual ribbing, Winston's logical commentary, and Nick's half-smile.

She'll tell them about her night over slurping warm milk, and they always offer her advice over ice cold beer, wise or not. And it makes her feel accepted. Like she belongs. And that always makes her glad.

Nick's half-smile, in particular, always makes her feel better, regardless of whether the date went well or not. Its like half his mouth is upturned, but its enough- smiles, even half-smiles, from Nick are rare things- and are to be cherished.

And she'll go to bed feeling loved and fulfilled.

When Jess comes back from a date, Nick is always happy to see her come back to the loft.

He always feels a pang of gladness to see she hasn't run off with some guy to his apartment. Perhaps it's the whole platonic friend thing. He hasn't had many girl friends. Girls who he could look out for, the whole elder brother thing.

Jess is a genuinely good person though. Quirky and admittedly rather strange at times- but you get used to her. And then she's really someone you're glad is around.

Her beaming smile is really cheering. It seems to be, corny as it sounds, like a ray of feminine sunshine in the testosterone-laden apartment of 4D.

And Nick really appreciates it. Its nice to have a female around- and because it's Jess, that makes it even better. So when she comes through the door, he smiles- just a little. Its like a reflex.

And he's absolutely sure she catches its meaning.

When Jess sees Nick's half smile, she knows- for all his curmudgeonly-ness, Nick cares.

And so does she.

She doesn't give him extra blueberries in his pancake for nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Cece has not given up the idea of a Nick & Jess union anytime soon.

But she's decided that perhaps she needs to try a different tactic.

As Jess tries on a couple of dresses for her date that night- a banker- Cece looked up from her issue of _Cosmopolitan_, boredom evident across her features.

'How about this?'

Jess twirled around in a modest dark green dress, batting her eyelashes.

Cece shrugged. After all, Jess had a completely different style from her. It certainly suited her schoolteacher look, but she herself usually aimed for the whole 'knock-out' thing.

'Its pretty,' she conceded.

'Come on Cece,' Jess pleaded, 'Luke is a big shot lawyer, I need to dress to impress. Not like a schoolteacher. More sophisticated and adult.' She gestured wildly.

Cece sighed, and walked over to Jess' closet. Smiling slightly at all the colour coded dress-and-cardigan outfits, she reached an arm into the depths of the closet and pulled out a lacy blue number.

'Woah-' Jess gasped, 'I didn't know I had _that_.'

Cece let the silky material flow through her fingers, her face unreadable.

'I don't even remember buying that, you'd think I'd remember it.'

Cece smiled knowingly at Jess and tapped the side of her head.

'Drunk shopping, bitch.'

Jess stared at the dress as Cece put it up nicely on a hanger.

'There's no way I could wear that for dinner with Luke-' Jess protested, 'it's so this-is-our-first-date-but-I-already-wanna-sleep-with-you-ish.'

Cece groaned.

'Just put it on, Jess.'

Jess rolled her eyes and grabbed the dress, disappearing behind her screen.

Cece grinned.

'You'll be a stunner.'

Nick sat in front of the TV, frowning as he nursed a beer bottle. Another night, another date for Jessica Day. That girl seemed to have a never-ending line of guys to go out with. And why wouldn't she?

Jess Day was a genuinely good person. And beautiful to boot.

_What kind of guy wouldn't wanna go out with her?_

To add to her string of virtues, she also made badass pancakes, generously loaded with blueberries. Best pancakes he ever had, hands down.

He took a swig of his beer.

That was something he always to look forward to every morning. Warm blueberry pancakes and a wide blue-eyed smile.

'Come on Jess,' Cece's muffled voice came from the bedroom.

Nick looked up.

And nearly had the air knocked out of him.

Jess looked… Fantastic. She was wearing something completely unlike what she usually wore. It was blue and lacy, and the blue matched her eyes. And it was low-cut. And tight. And that was all he knew.

'…Nick!' Jess yelled.

'Jess?' he answered stupidly.

'Nicholas, you were staring,' Jess winked.

'Um, yeah,' Nick rubbed his scruffy face embarrassedly.

'You look really great.'

Cece watched this exchange feeling extremely pleased with herself.

'Thanks,' Jess replied, looking suddenly shy.

An awkward moment passed between the two of them, till Jess picked up her handbag, and straightened up with a bright smile.

'I'll be going then, have a good night- Cece thanks, and you too Nick,' Jess saluted, started to make her way out of the door.

Nick blinked. Wait, she was going out like _that_?

Dressed like _that_?

On a _date_?

With some random guy who was a _banker_?

He scrambled up from the couch, sloshing some beer down his shirt. There was no way in hell she was going out with some banker dressed like _that_. She looked like Jasmine from Aladdin with blue eyes and just slightly more conservative clothing. The banker would totally jump her. He'd be crazy not to.

And he would be deprived of blueberry pancakes and wide blue-eyed smiles tomorrow morning.

'JESS!' he yelled, just as the door closed.

The door creaked open, Jess looking quizzical.

'Yeah, Nick?'

Nick's resolve suddenly died on him. She looked lovely, was a lovely person, and she deserved a lovely evening with a lovely man (even if he was a banker).

But she looked like _Jasmine._

He cleared his throat nervously, 'You sure you don't want a cardigan?'

_Just to cover up her chest, at least._

Jess brightened up.

'That's a great idea. It might get chilly later tonight- thanks Nick!'

She grabbed a coat off the rack, raced forward and gave him a quick hug, and waved as the door shut behind her.

Nick was left with a quickly warming bottle of beer in his hand and the ghost of a hug on his left shoulder.

'Saw what you did there, Miller,' Cece smirked.

Nick cocked an eyebrow at her.

'Don't act too late, or she'll be wearing dresses like that for another man every night,' Cece continued, as she picked up her handbag.

'Wait- Where did she get that dress from anyway?' Nick asked incredulously.

'I planted it in her wardrobe- you're welcome.' Throwing her handbag across her back, Cece proudly walked out the door.

**Nick made a Aladdin reference on last week's episode, and it made me laugh like crazy. So I did it here too. Hope you enjoyed this! Please review if you did (:**

**I'm focusing more on a progressive 'will-they-won't-they' story. With Cece meddling, because everything is loads more fun and scandalous that way (; Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday night was either a very noisy or quiet night at the loft.

It really depended on the agenda of the night- whether it was dates, movie nights, random parties, or just replays of True American.

But tonight, it was just chaos.

Nick and Jess had clinched dates, Schmidt was going for yet another baby shower (after becoming a surprise hit at them), while Winston was going out with Shelby.

Thus commenced the last minute rush of looking presentable.

'Has anyone seen upon my driving moccasins? I can't believe they've disappeared again!' Schmidt yelled from his room.

'Why the hell do you need moccasins? It's a BABY SHOWER, they might push you into the pool again,' Winston yelled back.

There was a pause, and Schmidt answered, 'I need disinfectant for my Birkenstocks!'

And they lapsed into screaming at each other from their respective rooms.

Jess shook her head tiredly at their bickering as she came out of her room, and headed to the medicine cupboard to get disinfectant- only to have the door fall off its hinges with a loud crash.

'I'm coming!'

Nick leaped over the sofa and grabbed some masking tape from the top of the refrigerator, lifting up the door and taping it back to the hinge rather haphazardly.

He dusted off his hands.

'It's fixed.' He said nonchalantly.

Jess sighed into her palm. She knew that there was no way they were going to confront the landlord again, but all the loft furniture falling into disrepair didn't sit well with her at all.

She blinked up at Nick to tell him that, but then she noticed-

He was dressed much nicer than usual. Sure, it was a familiar looking brown checkered shirt, but it was more dressy than his normal ratty tee-shirts. And he was even wearing a tie! A rather old-fashioned tie, but it suited him. But it was kind of lopsided.

Jesses smiled as she brought up her hands to absentmindedly adjust his tie.

Nick looked adorable- in his own ruffled way. Yeah.

She accidentally brushed against his stubble- and she paused.

And she met his eyes. They were a lot browner than usual.

_Like poop, _she thought.

But they were much darker too.

She dropped her hands quickly. Her hand felt fizzy and electric.

She swallowed nervously.

'Your tie… It wasn't quite right,' she said awkwardly.

Nick's expression was unreadable.

She smoothed down her skirt and continued, 'You look nice tonight.'

'So do you,' Nick replied. Jess couldn't help but notice Nick's voice was unusually hoarse.

Jess glanced down at her outfit, feeling ridiculously pleased. She glanced down at her cropped top with high-waisted skirt, and beamed back at him. It was just one of her usual teacher-y outfits, but it was nice that he noticed anyway.

'So Casanova, who's your date tonight?' she nudged him.

'Just some girl I met at the bar, Rebecca Wilson-' he scrunched his eyes in focus, '-she's a journalist.'

Jess puckered her lip. Rebecca Wilson sounded familiar- and like a pretty competent person. Not like the normal under-aged girls or ill-mannered chicks he went out with normally. How… odd.

She felt a slight flash of surprise (or was it annoyance?), but tried to quickly suppress it before answering cheerily, 'She sounds great!'

Nick kind-of smiled.

Jess hoped it was a sort-of grimace.

'I know you're going out with that dude… Greg from marketing right?'

Jess raised her eyebrow in surprise.

'I didn't think you would have remembered.'

_I remember who you're going out with_, _especially if he's a perfectly nice guy that I can't pick on,_ Nick thought silently.

But he gave her a non-committal shrug in response.

'He should be here any moment,' Jess sighed, hoping that Winston and Schmidt's shouting match would've calmed down by the time Greg arrived. Greg was a nice, normal man. She didn't want him to get scared off too quickly.

'YOU CAN JUST WEAR SLIPPERS, DUDE. YOU DON'T NEED DISINFECTANT.'

'YOU DON'T WEAR SLIPPERS TO A BABY SHOWER, YOU EXCREABLE BEING.'

Jess and Nick exchanged a weary glance.

There was a knock on the door.

Nick got up, dusting his hands on his trousers.

'I'll go and shut up the guys. Go and enjoy yourself, Jess,' he waved her away.

'Thanks, Nick,' Jess murmured, as she watched Nick, looking fancy in his checkered shirt and tie (or as fancy as Nick could get) got up, a beer in hand, looking ready for battle.

She felt strangely touched.

She squeezed his hands in thanks, but let go off his big, broad fingers reluctantly before she did anything stupid.

Like hug him and inhale his scent. Or kiss his cheek.

Or kiss his lips.

Good grief.

Nick cleared his throat.

'Go have fun okay?' he said gruffly.

As he sauntered away, Jess began to wonder that perhaps she was in a relationship with the wrong person.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the hiatus people, have been busy with school! This'll be a long chapter though, to reward you guys for being patient (except you, **123serendipitee**, you hurried my ass XD But thanks for the nudge, its nice to know people actually care enough for my writing! 3) Thanks to all for the lovely reviews, favourites, the like.

Another Saturday night, another date night.

At least that's what it felt like to Nick- the constant hurry to find 'The One' (not that he believed in any of that crap- did he?) and start a stable, familial existence.

Ugh.

Anyhow, tonight was going to be a little different. After a little prodding from Cece- he could swear that girl was up to something- he and Rebecca, and Jess and Greg, were going out on a double date.

He didn't particularly like the idea of that, and he had a feeling Jess didn't like it much either. He met his grumpy gaze in the mirror, and sighed. He really needed to work on looking more relaxed.

He smoothened down the creases between his eyebrows. Yes, that was much better.

There was a brief knock on the door, and Jess barged in, adjusting her earring.

'Hey Nick-'

She had caught him with his fingers squarely on his forehead.

She blinked bemusedly and smiled.

'-What are you doing?'

Nick dropped his hand embarrassedly.

'No-nothing.'

She grinned. Nick sighed inwardly. She knew what he was doing.

'We have to be leaving soon, we don't want to be late!'

She closed the door.

'Double date, grumpy pants!' she sang from the other side.

Nick tried not to laugh.

It took them a while to get out of the loft.

Schmidt had decided that Nick's shoes clashed horribly with his shirt, and had insisted that his pants be ironed first.

Typical Schmidt.

But Nick supposed he did have a point about the shirt. Why had he bought it anyway?

The ride to the little Italian restaurant was a largely quiet one. Jess kept drumming her fingers on the dashboard nervously, and Nick felt a queasy sort of anticipation.

Nick decided that he'd break the silence.

He cleared his voice.

'So, Greg seems nice.' Oh, yuck.

Jess slowly inched her head to face him.

Greg was a marketing consultant, all spiffy suit-and-tie, and a gentleman by all accounts. In the bank account- he was pretty competent too.

'Yeah, he is,' she replied quietly, before continuing, 'So, Rebecca seems nice.'

Nick nodded affably. Rebecca Wilson was a cool. She was responsible, level-headed, Julia-like (he inwardly blanched a little) and she was witty and fun. And pretty darn-sexy to boot.

She was pretty fantastic, when he though about it.

'Yeah, she is,' he agreed.

They pulled up at the restaurant.

Jess grabbed Nick's hand as he turned the ignition.

'Let's just be cool roommates tonight, okay?'

Nick studied Jess' huge blue eyes. She wasn't kidding- and she wasn't beating round the bush. They both knew what she was talking about, yes?

He nodded.

They climbed out the car, and Nick was careful to place distance between them.

_Friendly distance, friendly distance- that's like at least one foot?_

'Hey!' Jess called brightly, as she saw Greg waiting at the table. Greg stood up and smiled.

'I hope we weren't late or anything,' Jess called, giving Greg a squeeze and sitting next to him as Greg pulled the chair out for her.

'Not at all, not at all- you look beautiful, by the way,' he grinned.

Greg glanced up, and Nick got his first good look at him.

Tanned face, perfect teeth, and nice hair. A young, less uptight Russell maybe?

Greg extended a friendly smile and hand.

'You must be Nick. Hi, I'm Greg Stevens.'

Nick took the hand and shook it heartily. Greg was nice and relatively good-looking. Yuck.

He smiled, and prayed his eyebrows were relaxing.

'Hi Greg. Nice to meet you.'

Nick studied the body language between Jess and Greg. They seemed comfortable enough with each other, and Greg was obviously pretty taken with Jess. Who wouldn't be? Anyone would be crazy to dislike her. Jess Day did look nice tonight, Nick decided, now that he could see what she was wearing under her coat.

A ladybird print dress. Classic Jess-wear.

Nick smiled gently.

'Nick!' a woman called from behind.

'Rebecca,' Nick turned around to greet her.

'Sorry to keep you guys waiting,' she planted a quick kiss on his cheek, and he took her coat.

'Rebecca Wilson, my roommate Jess Day and her boyfriend Greg.' he introduced.

Jess got her first good look at Rebecca Wilson.

She had beautiful hair. It was red and fiery, and it actually looked natural. She had a broad smile and pretty brown eyes. And she had a really nice green dress with pretty sleeves on.

'Hi Jess, Greg,' Rebecca smiled a brilliant smile.

Jess beamed in return. Rebecca was gorgeous and had awesome fashion sense. She had kind-of wished that Rebecca would turn out to be a kind-of bitch. Sigh.

Social niceties settled, they grabbed the menus.

Jess scanned Nick and Rebecca over her menu.

They were pretty touchy-feely. Rebecca was leaning against Nick, and he was leaning back into her! Jess felt a stab of annoyance. She and Greg could be equally affectionate.

She toyed with Greg's fingers and put her head on his shoulder.

Greg looked down at her, surprised but pleased. He planted a kiss on her forehead in return.

Nick caught the finger-toying and forehead-kissing over the menus. He didn't like it one bit. He could go with forehead-kissing. Rebecca loved affection. She was pretty passionate anyway.

'I was thinking about the _vongole_, what do you think?' Rebecca broke him out of his thoughts.

'It wouldn't taste anywhere as good as you,' Nick grinned, and kissed her forehead. Hell yes for PDA.

Rebecca laughed and faced him.

'So would you,' she smiled, and she went back to leaning against him. Nick raised his eyebrow at Jess. Just a little.

Jess gripped her napkin with her free hand. She didn't want to think if Nick tasted like vongole or not. And she could have sworn he just challenged her with an eyebrow raise.

She breathed in deep, feeling the adrenaline. They were playing a game now, were they? Two could play at PDA. Heh. That rhymed.

'Greg, what do you say we take-' she crept her fingers up his arms flirtatiously, and said in a shouting whisper, 'a little walk after dinner?'

Nick countered quickly.

He turned to Rebecca, 'Let's grab the car and make a couple of rounds later,' he said pointedly.

Rebecca lit up and nodded enthusiastically.

'Nick,' Jess said sweetly, 'we came in _my_ car.'

Nick unabashedly looked back at Rebecca and asked, 'You came in _your _car, right?'

Rebecca looked rather confused now.

'Of course,' she replied.

'We'll take Rebecca's car,' Nick announced, 'Its got an e-nor-mous backseat,' he winked at Greg.

Greg looked at Jess and Nick questioningly. He then settled for looking at Rebecca, who seemed just as lost as he was.

Sensing the awkwardness, Jess stood up and grabbed Nick's arm.

'Nick,' she admonished loudly, 'you always forget to wash your hands.'

And she dragged him to the bathroom.


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys are an impatient bunch, really. But I hear your pleas for more New Girl fanfiction. There simply isn't enough here! I'm enjoying these few chapters, it's been fun to write. Thanks for the reviews, means the world to me. *****Hugs*******

Jess threw the door of the handicap bathroom open (thank god, it was a nice one), dragged Nick in, and locked it decisively.

They were silent for a few seconds, and then they both exploded.

'Why would you even do that!'

'Do you normally KISS over menus when you go for dates with Rebecca?'

'What does 'take a little walk' even mean?'

'Taking a walk, what else? Now, taking 'a couple of rounds in the car' has lewd meaning!'

'What's with the creepy finger thing?' Nick imitated, crawling his fingers up his arm with a disgruntled look on his face.

Jess opened her mouth to retort, and then shut it, deciding to glare at Nick fiercely. Nick seemed to be taking a cooler approach than she did, and that annoyed her. She glared at him even harder.

'You know, Jess, you started it,' Nick said quietly.

'NO I DIDN'T-' Jess yelled back, but then she realized- she did. She had done the whole finger-toying thing first… But, but Nick had been so… touchy-feely with Rebecca!

'You-' she pointed a finger at Nick, '-you were being all cosy with Rebecca.' She put her hands on her face and made a kissy-expression. 'Look I'm Nick Miller, and its so on with my girlfriend Rebecca!'

Nick looked amused.

'Rebecca is super affectionate. She's always like that, _competition or not_.'

Jess flushed. She knew where this was going. And the embarrassment, the whole humiliation and absurdity of it all, welled up inside her.

'Rebecca isn't my _competition_,' she said in a small voice.

And the atmosphere changed. It was suddenly much, much warmer.

Nick tugged at his shirt collar. He wasn't sure if he was ready for where this conversation was headed.

'You sure were acting like the PDA was a competition,' he said stubbornly.

'It wasn't!' Jess protested. 'You mean a girl can't get unprovoked sexy with her _boyfriend_?'

Nick made his turtle face.

'You know, maybe you were just jea-' he cut off.

They both knew once the j-word came up, there'd be no going back. And that was a scary realization.

'Have you even gotten cosy with Greg until today when Rebecca and I were here?' he asked accusingly.

Jess flushed an angry scarlet, and she shoved him in the chest. However, Nick caught her arms mid-shove, and they glowered at each other for a whole 3 seconds, until they became painfully aware of how close their faces were to each other. Jess' eyes widened a little as she realized just how close their faces were- their noses were barely 2 inches from each other.

'Oh fuck it,' Nick sighed.

And he closed the distance between their lips.

The temperature shot up 30 degrees.

They melted into each other.

Grabbing each other's hair and pressing themselves hard against each other, it went on until Nick had to come up for air. They separated and fell back on opposite walls.

They breathed heavily at each other.

Jess rubbed at her smeared lipstick.

'That-' she heaved, '-was unexpected.'

Nick rubbed the back of his head- had he knocked it against the wall? It was throbbing- and nodded.

They stared at each other- Jess backed up against the door, Nick against the wall.

Had anything changed?

'That was pretty hot,' Nick managed.

Jess' eyes lit up with humor. 'Yes, it was,' she agreed.

'Any regrets?' Nick asked quietly.

Jess' blue eyes met his brown ones, and she shook her head slowly.

'No.'

Nick tried to stifle the smile that was threatening to overtake his face.

'Your boyfriend, my girlfriend- they're both waiting outside. What happens now?'

What happens now? Between Greg and her and Nick and Rebecca? Or just between _them_?

Jess looked at him questioningly, and the question floated in the air for a few seconds. Nick grinned at Jess, simply pleased by the night's events, seemingly unaware of what Jess was thinking.

'What do you suggest?'

'I say we sneak out, skip dinner, get back to the loft, and do some more of this-' he gestured, '-in my room or yours.' He grinned.

Jess couldn't help it. Her lip upturned a little.

But. Greg was still her boyfriend... right? And Nick was her roommate- and one of her best friend. She liked Greg. She did. And Nick mattered. He mattered a lot. There was so much risk there. She didn't particularly want to lose Greg- he didn't deserve it at all- and more importantly, she didn't want to lose Nick.

To get with what Nick was saying would be a huge game changer- and was she really ready for that?

She lifted a finger to her lip. It still tingled.

'Nick-' she started, '-I'm going to go out and pretend this didn't happen. I'm going to have a civilized dinner with Greg, go for a walk, _just a walk_, and then I'll go back to the apartment, where I'm sleeping in my bed.'

Nick's jaw dropped.

'Wha-what?' he said hoarsely.

'You matter, Nick. You're one of my best friends, and my roommate.'

The wrinkle between Nick's eyebrows came back and straighted and cleared his throat.

'So… I'm going to go out there and say that I washed my hands clean, and I'm ready for dinner. And not that I just made out with my roommate- _whom I've been crazy about for ages_. That suits me fucking fantastic. See you at the loft.'

And he slammed the door behind him.


End file.
